Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Plan, and is seeking public input as to existing vehicle routes in the northwestern pan of the COCA. The two maps. "Kelso" and "Red Mountain," cover imponant riding areas like Jawbone Canyon and Dove Springs, which are now classified as Class L. If you need help with the maps, or have input to offer, contact D-37's Jerry Counts at 213/348-8381. Or call the BLM Ridgecrest office at 7141446· 4526 and a.slr. for Mark Struble. Comment deadline on those two maps is Dec. 29.1981. ~ 00 0') ~ FoI .... CN contllbu1Dr Tom BIatder hes been appointed ProfeaIonal RacIng Manager of the Sports car Club of America'. Protesalonal Racing Division. SCORE International has a new address: 31356 Via Colinas, Suite 111. Westlake Village. CA 91~62. The phone number remains the same: 2131 889-9216. . "I believe a lot of people took my saying I was now In the bicycle bu.lnes. unlass thing. change to mean I had gotten out of racing completaly:' said Mert lawwIli In raferance to his quotes about dl. banding the Roberts-LawwIII RacIng effort. "It wa. said half in je.t. My busll'I8B8. LawwiII Racing Products. is humming right along and with the extra time I have now, I've begun to add mora Item. to both the lHarley-Davidsonl XR7&O and Vamaha dirt track lines. I have a Virago engine I'll be doing development work on. and I plan to have .ome items by about the .tart of the sea.on for that. Mart La_III definitely hasn't gotten out of racing; he'. just changed thing. around a bit." "It's official," said John Morgan. "I am no longer with Suzuki." Suzuki's Enduro/ISDE Qualifier ~ries factory effort, of which Morgan had been manager. was disbanded team following the recent ISDE. Morgan had been offered a' position in the California headquarters, but declined. "I'll be pursuing other interests," said Morgan of his plans. A record entry from 24 .tate. converged on Ocala and Homosa.sa Spring., Rorlda for the November 26-29 running of the 10th Annual Florida Winter National Mlnlcycl. Schoolboy Olympics. Californian Ronnie Tichenor IVaml took the 711 age group overall win and the Bronze Boot Award for best overall performance. Tichenor won every quarrfltil'theatJrnoto he ran. The 8-12 overal win went to Eric VarnelllKawI whIe the Schoolboy c:I8BB _ won by Johner Kite lVaml. Added to this year'. program were Pee Wee and 65cc c:lasses. The winners were Billy Schlag IVaml and John 'Kitsch lVaml, ra.pectively. A tip of the Wealey duckbill to Jay Manning and John Geergi, owners of the Union 76 truck stop where the Cycle News B-to-V Road Ride and Poker Run and the annual trail ride finished. They generously provided gallons of steaming coffee to the cold, wet and tired fInishers. How cold was it? Well, the 01' fella's aforementioned duckbill had icicles on it at on~ point! 2 Speaking of B-to-V, approximately 180 mell·ln entries wera not picked up at the start. Cycle N.... will be meIIIng an event sticker and pin to all those who didn't make It. Thanks for . .pporting the Duck and the AMA. While we're still on the subject, Papa's friend EI Coyote dropped by the start area on Sunday, scoured it in his search for trash, and reports only one and a half bags fuji, much obviously left by others. The Coyote found a set of keys at the stan, but lost his glasses (bifocal) in the same area. If you lost the keys or found the glasses, give Papa a call at 213/427-7433. "Detr~ listening Post':' a ~r ,,~... column written by Gary Wltzenburg, relates some speculation on the recent General MotonslSuzukl deaL In which GM bought some SuzukI stock. Acc0rdIng to the column. GM is haVing second thoughts on building its own "superaconomy" cars with enginas of I... than 1000cc, and is looking to an Importation deal with Suzuki, which makes .uch cars for the Japanesa market. The Motorcycle Industry Council will present five Dealer Accessory Sales Clinics in 1982, coordinated with Motorcycle Dealemews Trade Expos in Anaheim, Houston, Cincinnati, Boston and Atlanta. Top technical and sales experts from the motorcycle aftermarket industry will combine their knowledge along with two MIC audio·visual presentations to give a complete look at the entire aspect of accessory sales. For more information on the clinics. contact the MIC at 2400 Michelson Dr., Irvine, CA 92715, 714/752-7833. White Bros. will be moving over the Dec. 13-15 detes. Their new address and phone number will be 1175 Seaboard Circle, Stanton, CA 90680,7141896-1991. Yoshimura's Marcell Fortney reports that Wes Cooley. who broke his leg and hip' in a pre-Daytona Pro-Am encounter with a haybale. is healing faster than expected. "Wes is already up and walking around," said Fonney, adding. "He may be able to get on a motorcycle in a week or so." Fortney also said that Cooley had signed with Yoshimura and SuzukiTor 1982. Ken Boyko and Peter Helsser have ju.t announced the opening of their .econd Grand PrIx Moto Boutique. It'. located In the Udo Mall, 363& Newport Blvd., Newport Beach, CA. Might be the place to do some Christma••hopplng. The· BLM's Ridgecrest Resource Area staff'has released two maps as pan of the vehicle route approval process prescribed in the California Desert Former Vameha factory road racer Johnny Cecotto wound up 12th In thl. year'. European Formula 2 Champlon.hlp. Cacotto, who drove a BMW·powered Minardll March, claimed one fourth and three sixth place flnl.h.. over the course of the year. In last week's California State MX Championship coverage. the results incorrectly listed Judy Grisham as the winner in the Women's 125cc Intermediate class. It was Janet Grisham who did the deedl . . Don't miss the 12th annual Trial de Espana. which win be held Dec. 12· 13 at Saddlebac:k Park. 1979 World Trials Champion Bernie Schralber win be there to perform his magic, along with other top riders. There will be cia.... for every .kin level, and the $8 entry will automatically entitle you to a tree raffle ticket .. the ATA gives away a brand new Buiteco Sharpe and other great prize. to raise funda to send its top riders to Europa. For mora Information call ATA president Matt Pritcherd at 7141996-7040 lbu.ln...' or 7141847-3248lhomel. The Missouri Supreme Court has denied a motion by the American Motorcyclist Association to transfer the now famous "Sl. Louis Bike Ban" case to its docket, effectively ending the three year battle, The surprise move. made November 10. came ~ithout support· ing comments by the. sUfreme court. The original 1979 bil prohibited motorcycle use in Sl. Louis city parks, and immediately met a successful AMA court ordered injunction. 'Two years later, inJune, the Missouri Court of Appeals reversed the earlier decision, ruling that the ban was constitutional. AMA then filed to ha"e the case heard in the high state courh The supre~ court's denial for transfer came abruptly as AMA staffers were meeting with city officials to repeal the measure. and effect the institution of a meaningful noise ordinance. A simjlar measure was vetoed last year, for "political reasons alone." according to one city insider. AMA points out that by working with city aldermen in drawing up a bill that would address the noise problem, all excessively loud motor vehicles would come under scrutiny, and not just motorcycles. AMA plans to go forward with these goals, and will seek a repeal of the bike ban bill. Commenting on the recent events, Government Relations Director Rob Rasor noted that the court's decision can't be conStrued as an open door to other bike bans. "While we have lost this court test in St. Louis, the precedent extends only to city parks. The funda mental problem remains. We wi continue to seek every available me of mitigating this problem by worki for equitable treatment of motorcycl with the alder.men. and focusing 0 motor vehicle noise. Whether or not t seek additional litigation is still unde consideration," he noted. Long time c,de W~ CQIIItr!bum Henry Manney ::;;:1 B1rIcken by .. and .. baing cared for at H Hc.pItaI In N.-port Beach. Accordlllg to Joe d .. "twcJI- "' .. Manney". prognoela. ·t good. but people who love him praying for • ful rKOV8I'Y:' It bas been widely I'WDClI'ed that G Cl'OIby, the talented road racer New Zealand who bad been droppl4 from the Suzuki factory team, bad pick ed up rides on Suzuki factory bikes . Pop' YOIhimura. While a YOIbIiJ'nwr4 spokesman aays that's true. a reliab IOUrce tells us Cl'OIby has Biped . Ammcan Honda. We contacted Ud Gietl. Honda's road ra~ team tnanap, and be said. UNo, not yet. Yell, ~ ba negotiated with him. but as of this moment we have not signed him. I anything happens you'll be the ftTSt to know." Reponedly. a clause in Randy Mamola's contract prevents Suzuki from giving Crosby a factory ride. When questioned about that clause. Mamola said. "I >tant this soned out. Croz and I did not hit it off - we both wanted to win the World ,Championship and that makes it real hard to ride for the same team...You can think what you liIte (about the contract) but there's no way a rider can make a factory do what the rider wants them to do ...I'm not gunning for Croz." According to an article In the AIf. motorcycle jumper Gary Wells hes been bound over for trial on burglary charges following a preIIrniI-v ...... 19 In Phoenix. Wells is accused of taking a .1000 + velue video tape recorder from former manager Tom Baker. Wells sued Beker In May for .1 million. claiming Beker had not provided adequate safety precaution. prior to his III-fated Caesars Palace jump. ZOU . . " . " . , As of Nov. 15, the Bureau of Land Management has closed the Palen Dry Lake ACEA (Area of Critical Environmental Concern) in Rivenide County to off-road vehicle use. Off·road acea I...-ry Roesller and Scot Harden will be teaming up to produce a ...... of desert racing schools.' WhIle the fun schedule hes not been firmed up. the tint one will be In Las Vegas, NY, on Dec. 12-13. and they'l have om. .chooIs In Callfomle. Utah and ArIzona. The pelr plan to keep entries limited for the moA beneficial atudenttinatruc ratio, and they wi( utilize video tape. For more information. call 70214&6-1479 or 7021381·2298. Australian MX Champ Stephen Gall (Yam) held off American Gary Semics (Suz) by two bikelengths to win a big international MX meet at Amaroo Park in Sydney: Australia. Yamaha's Broc Glover, winner of a stadium MX there a week ago. was running founh before. his wheel collapsed and he DNF. Australian Peter Carney. (Suz) finished tbird. The Nov. 29 race ran in front of a capacity crowd of 10,000. Suzuki'. Mlka Rosso will have his left foot In a cest for about five months. ROBBO, a member of the

• Cover